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Rick draws the first knife and Michael cries out from the back, "Not me, not me!" He says that because his Mexican flavors are not very good, and he doesn't want to try and do Rick's dish. Rick draws a knife with the number 1 on it. Art draws a knife with the number 2 and so does Suzanne. Everyone laughs. Michael is left with the remaining knife with the number 1 on it. Indeed, he's doing Rick's dish.

As the chefs head to Whole Foods to shop and then prep for the meal, they go over their dinner plans. What I'm amazed about is the fact that they truly understand how to approach this challenge. They're not getting caught up in trying to "replicate" the dish or keep the original flavors. Every Master is approaching the challenge with the mindset of "I'm going to do this dish in my own flavors, as if I were cooking it in my own restaurant." Thus, Anita is doing an Asian spin on Hubert's dish, Art is doing a southern spin on Suzanne's dish, etc.

The one snag here seems to be Michael. As a self-professed incompetent with Mexican flavors, he's really transforming Rick's original dish. Even Rick, who's absolutely respectful of every chef in the kitchen, says that other than the original ingredients of beef and figs, he can't recognize his dish at all.

And herein lies a great problem with the challenge: because only the Masters themselves know what the original dishes taste like, the Masters have free reign to remake the dishes however they like. I had originally been happy that this challenge forced the Masters out of their comfort zone – they wouldn't be able to cook any dish that they've had a chance to perfect in their own kitchens. They have to try something new.

Well, maybe not. I'm wondering if Michael has strayed so far from Rick's dish that he's gone back into his comfort zone. And if he does, none of the critics will know.

Dinner starts and the Masters will be serving the critics plus six "experienced diners." I immediately guess that the six other diners will be eliminated Masters from previous episodes. My boyfriend guesses that they will be serving themselves. Interesting thought...maybe this will ruin Michael (whom I'm starting to dislike).

But no, I'm right. The six diners are previous episode Masters including Elizabeth Faulkner and Ludo, the hot-headed French chef.

Art starts off with his remake of Suzanne's dish. It's a lamb steak with a Scotchish egg in the middle. The lamb is undercooked and the egg is overcooked.

Suzanne goes next and has seared grouper with some veggies. She'd finished cooking with about ten minutes to go and plated her dish with time to spare. As a result, when the food reaches the diners the fish is overcooked and somewhat cold. I'm really unhappy, she's one of my favorites in the season so far, with her understated panache and unboastful demeanor. I'm thinking that she'll probably go home.

Hubert Kessler goes next and his remake of Anita scallop and potato dish is well received. Anita goes next with Hubert's lobster dish and she draws rave reviews. I mean, really, really strong comments from everyone.

Rick goes next and everyone likes his dish very much. Michael goes next and most people agree that he's lacking some big, bold flavors with the lamb.

Back at critics table, it's clear that Anita and Rick are the favorites. Anita is praised strongly by Gael for being thoughtful in every aspect of the dish. Everyone appreciates the way Rick quietly channeled Michael's flavors, being respectful of the dish as a whole.

Obviously on the bottom are Art with his undercooked lamb and Suzanne for her cold grouper. I like Art a lot but I really, really, really have my fingers crossed that Suzanne gets saved and he goes home.

As expected, the critics announce that Anita and Rick are on top. Rick gets four and a half stars from James and Gael but only four stars from Jay for a total of 23 stars. That's the highest total we've seen so far on Top Chef Masters and will be hard to beat.

But beat it, Anita does. She gets four and a half stars from James and Jay plus a golden five star rating from Gael. She's won another $10,000 for her charity and she's safe.

Again, as expected, Michael and Hubert are in the middle with 18 and a half and 21 and a half stars respectively. That leaves Art and Suzanne on the bottom. One will go and neither one looks happy, albeit, it's obvious that both are more unhappy with their cooking than with being on the bottom.

Art gets two and a half stars from Jay and Gael but three stars from James. Suzanne will have to match those scores exactly to tie him for this round . . . but alas, my heart breaks and she gets a straight run of two and a half stars. Suzanne, the quiet and humble chef from Los Angeles will be going home.

All in all, this was a GREAT episode. I'm excited that we'll be able to follow this group of chefs to the finale instead of seeing new faces every week. Also, I'm incredibly impressed by the caliber of cooking. It's clear that these six chefs were Masters in every aspect of the word and I can't wait to see what they do next.

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